The Yarrowee River has been contaminated with upstream sewage once again, Central Highlands Water has warned, as flooding continues.
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Two weeks ago, after the first heavy rains at the beginning of October, signs appeared in Brown Hill and near the Black Hill reserve warning people and animals to stay out.
"We advise people, pets and stock NOT to use or have contact with the water in this area until this signage is removed," the signs state.
According to residents, the signs can appear after heavy rain when sewerage outlets overflow.
"I've noticed it getting worse, as our climate's changed and the rain's getting harder," Brown Hill's Sue Walker said.
"These one-in-100-year floods are happening more often, and it's all pouring into the river - they've dug a culvert into the creek, then the next day I saw plastic backing and straw bales down, which catches the effluent."
The sewage claims are separate from an EPA motion to prosecute a developer in Brown Hill for contaminating the river.
The sewerage infrastructure can be overwhelmed, according to CHW, which is what happened at the corner of Morres and Haines streets in Brown Hill.
"This caused overflowing of the sewage network, at a manhole adjacent to the Great Dividing Trail, which flowed in the Yarrowee Creek. As a result of this, we placed advisory signs in the area, to inform the local community," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"With further heavy rains forecast later this week we anticipate inundation at this site could reoccur and ask that people and animals continue to avoid drinking, or coming into contact with, water in the impacted area, until clean-up is complete and associated signage is removed."
Ms Walker said more must be done to prevent ongoing contamination, particularly as development increases upstream.
"They said they didn't want it settling on the land - but the signs don't even say effluent," she said. "They said they've drawn up plans to sort out what's happening, but it won't happen in two years."
The CHW spokesperson said the agency has "met with interested local community members to discuss the current situation as well as our future plans for the area".
"Our Ballarat Sewer Build project continues, delivering legacy infrastructure to serve our rapidly growing population for the next 100 years. Stage 1 of the Ballarat Sewer Build (in the CBD) is complete, Stage 2 (to Mount Clear) has recently been awarded, with works to commence in late 2022/early 2023, and project planning of Stage 3, which will have particular focus on increasing capacity in the Brown Hill area, is under way," they said.
"Our team will continue to engage with community members in the area throughout this project.
"Clean-up has continued (last week) at the Morres Street site and will be ongoing as required, based on any weather impacts."
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